Service disputes between private schools and employees are not amenable to writ jurisdiction absent a public-law element.

The petitioner sought a direction to treat her service at Vijayanta Senior Secondary School as regular from April 2011 to May 2013 and to grant consequential benefits.

The School’s management objected that it was a private society and that the employment dispute was not amenable to writ jurisdiction.

The petitioner’s requested service period had expired by the time the Court considered the petition.

1. Whether the petitioner’s service dispute with the School’s private management could be adjudicated in a writ petition under Article 226

2. Whether the petition seeking relief for the period April 2011 to May 2013 had become infructuous

A private school’s educational activity may involve a public duty, but an employment dispute arising from a private contract does not, without more, involve a public-law element; such a dispute is not maintainable in a writ petition against the private employer.

The Court relied on Army Welfare Education Society, New Delhi v. Sunil Kumar Sharma, 2024 INSC 501, including its holding that a school does not discharge a public duty in connection with its employees’ employment.

It also referred to the Division Bench decision in W.A. No. 2887 of 2023, decided 2 September 2026, concerning the School’s status as a private management.

The Court treated the claim as a service dispute between the petitioner and a private school management, rather than a matter involving a public-law element.

Applying the cited Supreme Court authority and the Division Bench’s determination that the School was not “State” under Article 12, it concluded that the writ petition was not the appropriate forum.

It also observed that the period for which regular service and benefits were sought had long since elapsed, rendering the petition infructuous.

It disposed of the petition, granting the petitioner liberty to approach the competent forum for appropriate relief if a cause of action survived; it made no order as to costs and closed the connected miscellaneous petition.